Embodied Neural Dynamics

Abstract

Abstract Even when the neural connections from sensory to motor systems are feed-forward, the closed sensory-motor loop induces a behavioral dynamics that is characterized by behavioral variables which capture the physical state of the organism in its environment. Behavioral dynamics is not limited to controlling behavior around a single goal state but may induce selection decisions among different sensory-motor goals. The chapter discusses how neural and behavioral dynamics interact and enable embodied cognition. Peaks of activation may set attractors for behavioral dynamics, solving a problem in theoretical neuroscience, the transformation of space into rate code without the need to normalize neural activation patterns. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the dynamic field theory (DFT) model of perseverative behavior in the Piagetian A-not-B paradigm. A robotic implementation of this model illustrates how the DFT account is embodied and sheds new light on the functional significance of perseveration.